Books > Social sciences > Sociology, social studies > Ethnic studies > Jewish studies
|
Buy Now
Born to Kvetch (Paperback, 1st Harper Perennial ed)
Loot Price: R369
Discovery Miles 3 690
You Save: R120
(25%)
|
|
Born to Kvetch (Paperback, 1st Harper Perennial ed)
(sign in to rate)
List price R489
Loot Price R369
Discovery Miles 3 690
You Save R120 (25%)
Expected to ship within 10 - 15 working days
|
The entry for "kvetchn (the verbal form) in Uriel Weinreich's
"Modern English-Yiddish Yiddish-English Dictionary reads simply:
"press, squeeze, pinch; strain." There is no mention of grumbling
or complaint. You can "kvetch an orange to get juice, "kvetch a
buzzer for service, or "kvetch mit di pleytses, shrug your
shoulders, when no one responds to the buzzer that you "kvetched.
All perfectly good, perfectly common uses of the verb "kvetchn,
none of which appears to have the remotest connection with the idea
of whining or complaining. The link is found in Weinreich's
"strain" which he uses to define "kvetchn zikh, to press or squeeze
oneself, the reflexive form of the verb. Alexander Harkavy's 1928
"Yiddish-English-Hebrew Dictionary helps make Weinreich's meaning
clearer. It isn't simply to strain, but "to strain," as Harkavy has
it, "at stool," to have trouble doing what, if you'd eaten your
prunes the way you were supposed to, you wouldn't have any trouble
with at all. The connection with complaint lies, of course, in the
tone of voice: someone who's "kvetching sounds like someone who's
paying the price for not having taken his castor oil---and he has
just as eager an audience. A really good "kvetch has a visceral
quality, a sense that the "kvetcher won't be completely
comfortable, completely satisfied, until it's all come out. Go
ahead and ask someone how they're feeling; if they tell you, "Don't
ask," just remember that you already have. The twenty-minute litany
of "tsuris is nobody's fault but your own.
---from "Born to Kvetch
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
|
|
Email address subscribed successfully.
A activation email has been sent to you.
Please click the link in that email to activate your subscription.